​The Winton Wetlands 'fish on trees' project is finally finished as the heat of summer descended upon us. The Wetlands team wanted the fish to 'POP' and they certainly do!

Adding the blue and green rings 5 meters up the old trees was made possible with the hire of a cherry picker from Delatite Steel Benalla. After about half an hour getting to know the machine I was manoeuvring high up between the trees with precision. While I was up high Sam was taking care of business down low filling all the fish with colour. Unfortunately I under estimated the amount of yellow paint and needed to return a few days later to complete the job. This enabled me to carefully touch up different areas till I was completely happy.

I am currently working on a new project at Winton Wetlands. This road and trees were under water before Lake Makoan was de-commissioned.

​The idea was to paint fish designs specific to the area. I decided to create a large fish across multiple trees that join up when the viewer gets to a certain point along the road - cool idea, difficult to achieve!

Fortunately I had Jake and Sam to be my painting hands and I communicated to them from the viewing point, where to paint marks on the trees - sometimes via mobile phone! I then added some other smaller fish to compliment the larger one and give reference for the larger fish when it doesn't line up.

I will be filling them with colour and will be adding rings 5m up the trees to mark the historical waterline when Lake Makoan was at its capacity.

Location is Boggy Bridge Rd a few km's past the Winton Wetland Hub.

​Tim Bowtell

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